Most Unlikely Heroes in History

0:00 Today we're going over the most unlikely heroes in history. John Paul Jones. It's 1768 and disaster has struck the Scottish trading vessel John. On its way back to Scotland, the ship's captain and first mate both died of yellow fever. And now the crew have found themselves without a leader in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. With no one wanting to take charge, the crew votes for a 21-year-old sailor named John Paul to take command. And against all odds, the young man's able to bring the ship home. The owners of the ship, expecting a total loss, are amazed that their crew and cargo were saved by such a young man and give him his own ship to command as a reward. Seemingly overnight, John Paul's life had changed forever. But he would soon find out that being a captain was much harder than he expected. On

0:46 just his second voyage, John Paul finds himself dealing with a mutiny against his crew over wages. Being so young and eager to assert his authority, he finds the leader of the group and begins flogging him as punishment. Be grateful. You even get paid what you get. And that goes the same for all of you. Uh, Sid, I think he's dead. Uh-oh. The leader of the mutiny wasn't actually dead, but he did die a few weeks later, which gets John Paul arrested for involvement in his death. He makes bail but leaves Scotland to captain a London registered trading ship and heads off to Tobago. But his old habits die hard and the new crew

1:31 mutinies against him. And this time he kills the leader of the rebellion with a sword. Now a murderer, John Paul abandons his ship and runs away to the American colonies and ends up in Virginia. There he changes his name to John Paul Jones and decides to lay low. Though he always had believed he was destined for greatness, he had at last accepted this was probably not his fate. But everything changes in April of 1775 when British forces clashed with rebel colonists at the Battle of Lexington, sparking the American War for independence. There was no turning back from what was later called the shot herd round the world. And within a month, thousands of British troops pour into the colonies. The newly formed Continental Navy puts out calls for experienced sailors to join the fight to help defend the American coast and

2:18 former ship captain John Paul volunteers for service. Now, I think it's important to understand just what our guy John Paul Jones and the rest of the Continental Navy was up against. The colonies had a few dozen ships in their fleet made up of mostly converted merchant and fishing vessels. And these men had the unenviable task of going up against the most powerful navy in the world who had hundreds of warships at their disposal. Trying to engage the British in a direct battle would have been instant death. So instead, the Continental Navy focuses on raiding merchant and supply ships, ports, and prisons. John Paul takes to this unconventional warfare like a duck to water, and he soon rises through the ranks, and by the end of 1776, he's made a captain with command of his own ship. But the ship John Paul is given is a sloop, and he's constantly passed over

3:03 for command of the bigger, more powerful warships. He begins to make a stink about it, and eventually he gets so annoying that the higher-ups tell him to take his ship, the USS Ranger, to France to quote, "do things that help the American war effort." Basically, they were just trying to get rid of him. And so, on November 1st, 1777, with no clear orders and a chip on his shoulder, John Paul set sail for the old world. Upon arrival in France, the captain meets Benjamin Franklin, who was serving as one of America's ambassadors. Franklin also initially found John Paul to be arrogant and kind of annoying, but over time they became friends. John Paul was fearless and had bold plans on how to take the fight to the British. And soon he proved he was exactly what an underdog Continental Navy needed. Amen.

3:49 Benny, old boy, I'll tell you what I'm going to do next. I'm going to take a fight right to the British and attack THEIR PORTS AND TERRORIZE THEIR TOWNS. AND OH, >> John Paul, are you okay? Must have some heart attack gone bad. Let me get you a doctor. Looks like you're suffering from a case of too much blood, I think. Well, I can fix that. Have you ever found yourself in a new place and suddenly needing to find a doctor you can trust? Looks like John Paul could use a second opinion. But luckily for you, living in the future, finding a doctor has never been easier, thanks to the sponsor of today's video, Zach. Zach's a free website where

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5:21 find and instantly book a toprated doctor today. Thanks so much to Zakdoc for helping us make this video. All right, time to take it to those British. Watch me cook, Benny. In the first weeks of April 1778, the Ranger sinks three enemy ships and captures another in British waters. Then against the objection of his entire crew, John Paul attempts to raid the critical British port of White Haven. Though the attack failed, the idea of Americans directly attacking the home island quickly spread fear and anger throughout Britain. The very next day, after the failed raid, John Paul and his crew attempt to kidnap the Earl of Selkerk. They aren't successful here either, only managing to take some silverware, but just a few hours later,

6:07 he attacks the HMS Drake, which was nearby. The two ships engage in a brutal hour-long gunfight. And in the end, John Paul and his crew are victorious and capture the ship. Most people would call it quits right there. But immediately after he secures the Drake, John Paul sails off and captures two more ships and sank a few smaller ones before the day was done. And I just have to point out that he did all of this in just one month. The Ranger and HMS Drake sailed victoriously into the French port of Breast in early May to much excitement. The capture of the Drake turned the Ranger into a legendary ship amongst the Americans. And at the same time, John Paul's actions infuriated the British, who quickly classified him as a pirate. Against all odds, the unknown fugitive on the run had become a hero of the

6:52 American Revolution. But his next battle would take him from a hero to a legend. Following the capture of the Drake, John Paul is given command of a converted merchant ship, which he names the Bonom Richard, the French translation of Poor Richard's Almanac, which was written by his good friend Benjamin Franklin. Franklin gives John Paul a fleet of ships to command. And unsurprisingly, given his now infamous lack of people skills, he immediately pisses off the captains of all the other ships. particularly the captain of the USS Alliance hated John Paul so much that he refused to meet with him stating that if they were together they would be forced to kill each other. Nevertheless, John Paul takes the Boner Rashard and his unwilling fleet to harass British cargo ships in the North Sea and on the evening of September 23rd, John Paul

7:37 discovers a large merchant convoy off the eastern coast of England. Guarding the convoy was the brand new 44 gun HMS Cerapus. John Paul immediately gives the order for his fleet to follow him in attacking the Serapists head on. But the captain of the Alliance, who remember hated Jon Paul, refused, thinking it was a dumb idea and instead splits off and targets the support ships. No matter, Jones was determined, and the Rashard barrels head first towards the Serapus. As night falls, the two ships finally drift within firing range, and John Paul gives the signal to attack. Immediately, cannons aboard the Boner Rashard explode in a firing fury. But not in the way John Paul wanted. See, wanting some bigger guns than the French had initially given him, John Paul had purchased some at a discount from a

8:24 scrapyard. Well, turns out these cannons were in the scrapyard for a reason, and many of them exploded on their first use, killing many of John Paul's gunners. The Capist, on the other hand, had no such issue and began unloading a heavy barrage into the now smoking bottom Rashard. Seeing his crew begin to panic, John Paul rushes to one of the few remaining cannons and begins desperately firing it at the British ship. He realizes that if things continue this way, they'll all be blown to bits. He needs to do something and quick. So, he shouts for his men to prepare to board and gives the command to ram the ship. The Bonishard crashes head first into the stern of the Capists. The British captain, seeing the ravaged American ship up close, mockingly shouts, "Ha! Are you surrendering?" To which John Paul shouts

9:09 back, "I have not yet begun to fight." The ships detach and again the Serapist unloads another lethal barrage into the Rashard, punching massive holes below its waterline. The situation aboard the American ship turns desperate. The Rashard is taking on water fast, and between shots of his own cannon and pistol, John Paul orders for another attempt to bring the ship within boarding range. Just when all hope looks lost for John Paul, rigging on the two ships become intertwined and they slam into each other broadside to broadside. Now unable to escape, the British fire their cannons directly into the Rashard, blasting more holes through the sinking ship. John Paul sends his men up the masts with grapeshot and grenades and orders them to begin picking off the British sailors on deck. The Americans are barely holding on when suddenly

9:56 things get even worse. Cannon fire rings out in the distance and shells rocked the bottom shard. Fueled by an equal hatred of the British and John Paul, the captain of the USS Alliance had begun firing on both ships, trying to take two birds out with one stone. Things were now dire for the Americans as the British continued to fire on them, preventing them from boarding. But in the chaos, one of the sailors who John Paul had ordered up the mast crawled to the end of the yard arm unnoticed with a handful of grenades. As he peered down onto the deck of the Serapus, he spots a small hatch and he begins to try to throw grenades into it. He misses on his first few attempts, but finally scores a direct hit. In the blink of an eye, a huge explosion erupts from every port hole and hatch on the British ship, and

10:41 sailors are sent flying into the air as the Cerapus catches on fire. The lucky grenade had ignited a gunpowder reserve and killed over 20 men. And in an instant, the outcome of the battle is now a tossup. With both ships heavily damaged, the British and American sailors charge each other, and melee combat breaks out on both decks. The glint of swords and musket fire illuminate the battle for spectators watching from the shore. Under increasing pressure, some aboard John Paul's ship attempt to surrender, and according to some accounts, he shoots them for treason. The crews continue to fight for over an hour until the British captain finally breaks. He pulls down his ship's flag and steps aboard the Bonomer shard. He then walks to John Paul and personally delivers it and his sword and surrenders. Though the bottom

11:27 shard was damaged beyond repair and sank the following day, John Paul Jones proved that the Continental Navy could challenge the best the British Navy had to offer. His victory inspired the French to increase their support to the struggling colonies. And when he returned to France, King Louis V 16th made him a knight and he was awarded a medal for his valiant service by the new American government. Though he died in relative obscurity, probably related to his pissport people skills, John Paul Jones is considered a hero in the US today and widely recognized as the father of the American Navy. Desmond Doss. It's the late 1920s in Lynchburg, Virginia, and a young boy named Desmond Doss and his family are finishing up a meal at his uncle's home. His father and uncle had begun discussing some boring topics, so Desmond leaves the table with his mom to go to the living room as the

12:14 two men continue to drink together. The night goes on and Desmond can hear the conversation in the dining room, slowly becoming louder and more heated. His father and uncle throw back more shots and they begin slurring their words and shouting insults at each other. The argument between the two men becomes so loud that a neighbor had called the police and soon the blare of sirens can be heard in the distance. Desmond and his mother walk into the dining room to tell the men to settle down. But as they step through the doorway, they watch in horror as his father slams his fist on the table, stands and draws his pistol. Desmond watches as his father menacingly points his gun directly at his uncle as his mother bolts in between the two men. "The police are on their way," she says as she grabs the pistol from her husband's hand and tosses it to her son.

13:01 "Hide that gun!" Desmond bolts out of the house and runs as fast as he can back home. He hides the gun and races back to his uncle's house just in time to see his father being arrested. As he watches the police load his father into a black patty wagon, Desmond's mind races with thoughts. His mother had raised him as a strict 7th Day Adventist, and he knew the Bible well. He thought of the story of Cain and Abel and realized that if his mother had not stepped in at that moment, his father would also have killed his own brother. How could anyone do that? The sixth commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill." In that moment, Desmond Doss swears he will never touch a gun again. A decision that would one day turn him into one of the most unlikeliest heroes in military

13:46 history. December 7th, 1941 was a day that shocked the nation. The Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, plunging the United States headfirst into World War II. In the days that followed the bombing of Pearl Harbor, young men across the United States rushed to enlist to join the war. Desmond at the time was working at a Navy shipyard and was offered a draft deferment. But he could not stand idly by and officially join the US Army on April 1st, 1942. But when he reported for duty, the commanding officers were shocked to find out that their newest recruit refused to carry a rifle due to his religion. Desmond applies to work as a combat medic, but wanting to get rid of him, the army officially designated him as a conscientious objector. And they send

14:32 him to join a rifle company, thinking this would break him and make him quit on his own. At basic training, when his fellow soldiers find out the new guy won't carry a rifle, they conclude he was just trying to figure out a way to get out of the war. So, they mocked him relentlessly. They threw boots at his head while he said his nightly prayers and threatened to shoot him themselves if they were ever deployed together. Things only got worse for Desmond when he insisted on observing the Sabbath on Saturdays and requested permission to attend church services on that day. This made everyone hate him even more, and many refused to eat with him, train with him, or even speak to him. The officers eventually gave up trying to make Desmond quit and reassigned him to the 77th Infantry Division as a combat medic. But unsurprisingly, the recruits there also hated him for the exact same

15:18 reasons. They saw him as a liability. And after trying their own hand at bullying and standard methods of getting him out, a commanding officer who had taken extreme offense at Desmond's refusal to touch any weapon tries and fails to get him court marshaled for refusing orders. But as horrible in experience his basic training was, Desmond endures and eventually he and the rest of his division are shipped out to fight in the Pacific theater in March of 1944. Armed only with a Bible, Desmond would soon prove every man who had called him a coward dead wrong. The 77th Infantry Division lands on the shores of Guam in May and immediately Desmond is given a close look at hell on Earth. The Japanese attack without mercy and American casualties quickly begin to pile up. As enemy bullets whizzed past and mortar shells exploded around him,

16:05 Desmond ran head first into battle to treat fallen comrades and carry them to safety. Against orders, he begins crawling into no man's land at night, searching for the injured and dragging fellow soldiers back to camp, saving many of their lives. In engagements in Guam and the Philippines, Desmond again and again fearlessly charges into battle unarmed and brings back wounded soldiers to safety. And soon, stories of his heroism spreads throughout the entire battalion. By the time he left Lee, Desmond had earned two bronze stars with a V device for exceptional valor. But as bad as the fighting had been so far, the 77th had no idea they would soon participate in one of the most bloody battles in World War II as they sailed toward the island of Okinawa. In May 1945, the Japanese troops were fiercely

16:52 defending their last stronghold before their main islands. And as Desmond and his unit arrived to relieve the 96 Infantry Battalion, they were greeted with trucks stacked to the brim with dead American soldiers. The mud on the battlefields was stained red from days of brutal combat. And these sites shocked the 77th as they proceeded to the area that had stalled the previous company's progress, a 300 ft escarment that the Americans had nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge. The Japanese had spent years fortifying the cliff with an intricate network of tunnels, bunkers, and firing positions. Wave after wave of soldiers attempted to take the ridge, but were driven back nightly by the Japanese. Machine gun fire from the defenders was so intense that the rounds sawed men in half and eight company commanders died in less than 36 hours trying to take the

17:38 escarment. Soon it was Desmond's unit, Company B's turn to try to take the ridge. The 155 soldiers of Company B stormed up the escarment and were greeted with heavy fire from the Japanese. After hours of fighting, the day was lost and 55 soldiers managed to retreat down the cliff with the rest either dead or too injured to make it down themselves. The survivors of the engagement look up from below and see a lone medic standing on the ridge. With bullets flying all around him, Desmond Doss charged into the battlefield and dragged men back to the cliff and lowered them down to safety. After lowering the wounded and seeing they had been taken by medics on the ground, Desmond silently prayed, "Please, Lord, just help me get one more." And rushed back into enemy fire to retrieve another

18:24 fallen soldier. Knowing the Japanese would torture anyone they found, Desmond refused to leave a single American soldier on that ridge. And over the span of 12 hours, he single-handedly rescued 75 men. The following day, a Saturday, the commanders asked Desmond if he'll be able to do his duty on the Sabbath. After some thought, he requested some time to read his Bible before they tried to take the ridge. The commanders and all the soldiers who had ridiculed him for months held up the assault and wait for Desmond to finish his prayers. When he was done, he gives his commander a nod and the Americans begin their climb up the cliffs. By the end of the day, they held Hacksaw Ridge. A few days later, Desmond is injured in battle and loses his Bible in the process of being evacuated. When the soldiers of B

19:10 company find out, they risk their lives to search the battlefield and eventually return it to their medic. In August of 1945, the Japanese announce their surrender. And in October of the same year, Desmond Doss smiled for reporters on the lawn of the White House as he received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Truman. The first conscientious objector to ever receive the award. Sergeant Stubby. It's July of 1917 and a stray Boston terrier mut is wandering around the campus of Yale University looking for something to eat. While sifting through some trash, he looks up and sees a group of soldiers marching in formation. Curious, he follows them to a military training camp that had been built on the school's football field. The dog wanders into camp and watches as the men go through their exercises. One of the soldiers

19:56 notices him and walks over and pets him on the head. This was the first time the dog had ever been shown any kind of affection from a human. And so he begins to show up to the camp every day and soon a private named James Conroy notices the dog and starts calling him Stubby. Conroy starts feeding him and eventually he and all the other soldiers in the unit adopt him as their pet. The soldiers teach him tricks and he begins sleeping at the camp with them. In just a few short months, the dog went from roaming the streets to having a name, a family, and a home. But one chilly October morning, a nervous private Conroy scoops Stubby up and quickly pulls him into his overcoat. Stubby doesn't know what's going on. And when Conroy finally lets him free, he finds himself on the deck of a huge ship. It turns out the soldiers who were training at Yale were now being deployed as one of the first National Guard units to

20:43 fight in the Great War. On their way to Europe, Stubby is eventually discovered by the commanding officer aboard the ship. Get rid of that filthy dog, Conroy. But sir, he's one of us. He is not a Okay, he can stay. Having won over the commanding officer, Stubby is officially made the regiment's mascot and allowed to freely travel with Private Conroy and the unit. The Americans arrive in France, and in February, they're sent to fight on the Western Front. Though things are initially quiet, everything changes in February of 1918 when the Germans begin to use chemical warfare on

21:29 the American positions and Stubby is nearly killed by a gas attack. Though he recovered, he never forgot the smell of the gas that almost did him in. And he would quickly become an early warning system for incoming gas attacks, barking at the first scent of danger. By March, the relative quiet Stubby and the American Expeditionary Force had enjoyed was completely shattered as the Germans launched their spring offensive. Shells begin raining down on the Americans and firefights break out day and night. As he watches Conroy fire his rifle, Stubby hears loud whistling overhead. He looks around at his fellow soldiers, but they don't seem to hear anything in the chaos. He jumps up, barking at Conroy, biting his leg and pulling him towards cover. Stubby runs to the next soldier and continues pulling people towards

22:14 shelter until all of the unit realize what he's doing. Artillery shells soon rain down all around them. Stubby had saved their lives. A first for the brave dog, but definitely not the last. By April, the Americans have the Germans on the run, and Stubby follows Conroy into no man's land as the Americans push towards the enemy lines. But as they advance forward, a retreating German soldier throws a grenade that finds its way right next to their position. It explodes near Stubby and Shrapnel digs deep into his legs and chest. Conroy frantically rushes Stubby to the field hospital where the doctors are able to save his life. While recovering from his wounds, he wandered the field hospital, visiting fellow soldiers, performing the tricks they taught him to cheer them up. Soon, Stubby returns to the front lines and he quickly begins demonstrating a

23:00 new skill of finding wounded soldiers and barking to bring medics to treat them. Night after night, he runs out into danger and helps to find and rescue dozens of wounded soldiers. One night, as Stubby was heading out to search for more wounded, he runs into a man he had never seen before in the American trenches. The man begins trying to call to Stubby, but he steps back and begins barking and snarling at the stranger. His hair stands up on his neck and he bears his teeth. Nearby soldiers hear him and walk over to check out what's going on. In an instant, the man turns to run. Stubby leaps forward, sinking his teeth into his leg and knocking him face down into the thick mud. The American soldiers arrive and find an iron cross pin on the stranger. Stubby had single-handedly found and captured a German spy. For this, the command

23:46 officer nominate Stubby for the rank of sergeant, which everyone begins calling him, but he never officially receives the rank because, well, he was a dog. When some local French women hear about the hero dog's exploits, they knit him a small uniform, which he wears proudly. Conroy pins his rank and two wound stripes onto the jacket along with a French campaign medal and the iron cross taken from the German spy he'd captured. Stubby would fight alongside Private Conroy and the rest of the American Expeditionary Force until the end of the war. And against all odds, the pair would survive the conflict and make it back to the States where they were welcomed as heroes. Stubby would go on to meet three US presidents and go down in history as the most decorated American animal in World War I. After the war, Stubby lived out the rest of his life with Conroy and went with him to law school at Georgetown University,

24:33 where he became the football team's mascot. As if he already hadn't accomplished enough in his short life, during halftime breaks at home games, Stubby would rush out onto the field and nudge a football around to entertain fans, creating one of the first ever documented halftime shows in history. All in all, not too bad for a stray mut from